A Senate-House conference is to determine whether the U.S. government should refuse to permit American funds to be used in any programs for the Palestine Liberation Organization through the United Nations and will also decide whether the U.S. government should be forbidden to provide economic assistance to Syria.
Both legislative actions were incorporated by the Senate, without dissent, in its adoption of the Foreign Aid Bill for the fiscal year that began on Oct. I. The House, at the behest of the Carter Administration, had previously approved $45 million in economic assistance to Syria.
In the Senate Appropriations Committee, however, Syria’s refusal to help implement the Camp David accords was cited among the reasons for banning U.S. financial support for Syria. Reports from Damascus said the Syrian government would consider a ban on U.S. support as a hostile act. American diplomats in Damascus reportedly have indicated that such a ban would deprive the U.S. of political leverage with the Syrian government.
The ban on support for the PLO was contained in an amendment presented by Sen. Jake Garn (R.Utah) which also incorporated a ban on aid to three African organizations. The Senate adopted the overall foreign aid appropriations bill of $8.14 billion by a vote of 53-38. This represented a reduction of three percent from the originally planned $8.46 billion.
The House also reduced the amount of aid by four percent to $7.46 billion. Funding for Israel in the amount of $1.783 billion in military and economic assistance and $750 million in economic support assistance to Egypt, are not affected by the cuts. But Jordan, Lebanon and other countries receiving aid may be affected by the reductions which will be determined by the Executive branch.
In the course of the debate, Sen. Mark Hatfield (R. Ore.) attacked Israel’s military activity in Lebanon with U.S. military equipment as a “mindless policy” that “breeds hate, radicalism and the ongoing cycle of fear and destruction.” He did not refer to PLO attacks on Israel from Lebanon.
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